The Earthbending Prisoner
by PoppyAzulair
Summary: Dom is 13 when her small village is attacked by the Fire Nation. Being one of six Earthbenders in the entire village, she is taken prisoner and vows to never Earthbend again. That is, until she rescues a scar-faced prince, who could end up being her way to freedom.


Chapter One

"I can't life it, Sano," Dom said, defeat evident in her pitchy voice. "You know, I could just bend it, then we could go home and be done." She looked at Sano, expecting him to disagree. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw him wipe the sweat from his brow and nod. It was always hot in their village, but today the sun seemed more intense than usual, the heat unrelenting. She threw him an excited smile and took a step back.

Dom and Sano were only a year apart, which felt like decades to Dom, who was 13 and younger. Sano always seemed so serious and coarse, with no life left behind his eyes despite the fact that he was barely a teenager. Dom was one of 6 Earthbenders in their village, and was getting quite good considering being self taught. The other benders were all proud, older men who refused to teach her a single thing every time she asked.

In their village during this time of war, each age group was divided and put to jobs around the are, instead of doing any schooling or helping their families. Dom and Sano were put together and had been working together for nearly a year, in which they had gotten to know each other well enough. Dom hated the work, heavy lifting and blockading. They protected themselves from the Fire Nation with a makeshift wall, an idea taken straight from Ba Sing Se. Although, their wall could never compete to the great outer wall of Ba Sing Se.

Sano was a proud boy of 14, who usually refused to let Dom cheat and use her bending to finish their work faster. He claimed to like the challenge of building with his bare hands, leaving Dom to pout and complain. Personally, she was surprised he didn't give in more often seeing as how she even found herself annoying at times.

Dom examined the work they had left and looked around, searching for anyone watching. When the area around her passed the test, she gave Sano her watch-and-be-jealous face and assumed her Earthbending stance. She stomped the ground, feeling the earth beneath her as if it were a part of her skin and bones, the dirt just an extension of herself. Taking a breath she lifted her arm and heard the familiar rumbling of her bending. She pulled the ground up and repeated until she had 3 large square rocks in front of her. Dom lunged at them and stood back, satisfied as they joined the wall. Their work was finished.

"You're welcome," Dom smiled cheekily, happy to be done for the day.

"Don't expect to be able to do that everyday," Sato stated plainly in his monotone voice as they walked home together. "It's dangerous. You know the Council said Earthbending is only allowed if the Fire Nation attacks us, or in emergencies."

"That was an emergency! Sano, I could have passed out from the heat and DIED!"

Sano gave Dom the most un-amused face she had ever seen on him, which was astounding considering the fact that he always looked un-amused. She sighed. "I know, but it's a part if me. I can't just not bend. The Fire Nation have never come here before, they will never find out there are benders here. I'm sure the other benders use their bending to do their work everyday, how do you think they are always the first ones back home?"

"Probably. But they shouldn't. They are supposed to be setting a good example for you and not putting us all at risk for an attack, the way you just did." He kept his eyes straight ahead, a stubborn tone to his voice.

Dom decided it was best to stop arguing with him and the rest of the trip was silent. She kicked rocks, bending them to come back when she kicked them too far, just to annoy Sano.

Dom felt something rumble in the ground, something big. Did Sano feel it? "What was that?"

"What? Are you okay, Dom? Maybe the heat is getting to you a bit."

She looked around, beginning to panic. What was the crashing that seemed to be happening under the ground that Sano didn't feel? Maybe it was her bending, maybe there was an extremely powerful badger mole under them making a nice little badger mole house. But something felt wrong. She could smell smoke in the air.

"Sano, something is wrong. We have to hurry."

She grabbed his arm and they ran the rest of the way to the village through the rocks and man-made path. Sweating profusely, the finally got to the pit that was their village. There were fires, everywhere it seemed.

Terror engulfed Dom. Why were the Fire Nation here? Did they see her bending? Was this all her fault? Her heart raced in her chest as she ran from Sano towards her house. Was her family okay?

She breathed heavily as she ran, the dry heat pushing her to her limit. Then flames shot out at her, and she failed to dodge in time. She felt the fire burn the flesh on her arm and cried out in pain, turning around to see who had attacked her.

The man looked like all the other Fire Nation soldiers around, evil. "Don't take another step or you'll never be able to walk again!" He screamed, his face red and blotchy. Dom struggled to make sense, her arm in horrible pain and her mind filled with worry. Was Sano alright? She had just left him there, she could protect everyone with her bending. But should she bend?

"We are gathering everyone together! Come with me, and no funny business or I'll blast you out of this pit," He threatened, his arms raised in his Firebending position. Dom felt no urge to oblige, but she would never find her family if she didn't. She followed him the center of town where they had gathered everyone together. She saw terrified looks mirrored on everybody's faces and struggled to find her parents and brothers and Sano. She finally managed to find her family, but she didn't see Sano anywhere. She hoped and prayed with all her might that he had somehow gotten away.

She could hear fire blasts and screams, but tried to stay calm. She held tight onto her father's arm and willed it all to be a bad dream.

A Fire Nation soldier stepped in front of everyone. "We have sources telling us there are Earthbenders here. 6 to be exact. The Fire Nation sees no need for Earthbenders in a world that will soon be ruled by fire," The man paused and laughed, lifting up his hands to show the flames he held. "Earthbenders, come out and identify yourself to us and we will not harm anybody. But if we do not get six, _real_, Earthbenders up here ready to come with us in five minutes, we will destroy this whole village."

Dom's ears rang, her heart couldn't possibly have sped up any faster. She looked at her parents with tears in her eyes, and before they could stop her she ran up to a man she had asked for Earthbending lessons from. "Are you coming?" She asked him, her voice cracking.

He grabbed her arm that wasn't burnt and pulled her up to his eye level. "I'm not goin' anywhere. I'd rather fight than surrender. If you say one word to them about me bein' a bender, I will attack you as I would them. Got it, little girl?" His yellow teeth seemed only centimeters away from her face, she forced herself away from him, trying to find Sano. Did six Earthbenders really have any chance against more than 50 Firebenders? She didn't think so. But time was running out.

"Dom, help me!" She heard Sano's voice yell. It sounded so unfamiliar, she couldn't think of a single time that his voice had held so much emotion. She whipped around and felt tears form in her eyes once again as she saw Sano being held by a Firebender, with another next to him. He had a burn across his chest and a black eye, a horrified expression plastered on his face.

"Sano," She whispered, coming toward him.

"Not another step!" The second Firebender screamed, raising his fists.

Dom took a deep breath. She had never felt so angry in her entire life. She didn't need to take another step. She locked eyes with Sano, and he desperately shook his head as she realized what she was going to do. "Okay, I won't take another step," She told the soldiers, stooping down to her knees in defeat. The men seemed satisfied with her surrender and began to walk towards her, forgetting about Sano.

She looked up at Sano and mouthed the word, _run. _

"No! Dom!"

Too late. She slammed her fists on the ground, and in a split second the fire benders were up to their necks in the dirt, unable to move. She stood up and ran towards the other Earthbenders. "Fight!" She screamed at them, hoping they would listen. They seemed happy to do what she said, as they must have been as panicked as they were about whether to turn themselves in or not.

She saw Firebenders running towards them, and flames erupting around them. It was time to fight for the first time in her life, and it could be the only time.

First Avatar fanfiction! Please please review! :)

~PoppyAzulair


End file.
